Cheerleading is an activity wherein the participants (referred to as "cheerleaders") cheer for their team as a form of encouragement. It can range from chanting slogans to intense physical activity for sports team motivation, audience entertainment, or competition based upon organized routines. Competitive routines typically range anywhere from one to three minutes, and contain components of tumbling, dance, jumps, cheers, and stunting.
Cheerleading originated in the United States, and remains predominantly in America, with an estimated 1.5 million participants in all-star cheerleading. The global presentation of cheerleading was led by the 1997 broadcast of ESPN's International cheerleading competition, and the worldwide release of the 2000 film Bring It On. Due in part to this recent exposure, there are now an estimated 100,000 participants scattered around the globe in Australia, Canada, China, Colombia, Finland, France, Germany, Japan,[1] the Netherlands, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom.
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